Wool card



July 19, 1955 M. w. THAETE WOOL CARD Filed Feb. 25, 1954 INVENTOR. MAX W THAETE ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 2,713,324 Patented July 19, 1955 WOOL CARD Max W. Thaete, Lakewood, Colo. Application February 25, 1954, Serial No. 412,457

3 Claims. (Cl. 119-89) My invention relates to a wool card and more particularly to a hand type'of wool card which can be employed for the fitting and trimming of sheep (or other animals having a fleece) for showing at fairs, auctions, and other places where sheep breeders display their animals, either for sale or for quality of breeding. In the past, wool cards have been available for fitting the Wool of sheep, but they have been the type of instrument having a flat body with straight or bent prongs or teeth of wire which have to be driven into the fleece bya patting or hitting action and then pulled out to make the wool fibers take an upstanding position, where trimming and shaping of the fleece can take place. It is well known that the wool fibers on a sheep are generally in a packed and matted condition and to obtain a good trimming and fitting job, these fibers must be fully raked or combed out before this can be accomplished. With the present fiat card, this takes a long period of time because the flat body of the card has to work on the curved body of the sheep. Also, the driving in and pulling out of the fiat card surface with the wire prongs, either straight or bent, will be hard to accomplish and the curved surface worked on must necessarily be smaller than the card surface.

One of the objects of my invention is to produce a new wool card which can be easily used to pull out or rake out a maximum of wool fibers upon each operation of the card so that trimming and fitting of the animal can be more emciently accomplished in a shorter period of time.

Another object is to produce a curved wool card which can be operated to pull out matted and packed wool fibers in an efiicient and easy manner merely by a rocking movement of the card.

Yet another object is to produce an improved wool card having a curved surface which will permit a new and more efficient operation to comb out the packed and matted wool fibers of a sheep or like animal having similar fibers.

A further object is to so construct a wool card with a curved surface and associate therewith bent prongs for raking out Wool fibers that these fibers can be combed from matted or packed wool in an easy manner involving only the laying of one end of the card on the wool with an easy pressure and then rocking it forward by a simple movement.

A still further object is to so construct my improved wool card that carding of Wool in inaccessible places can be easily accomplished by simple operations.

Yet a further object is to produce a wool card which will permit a deeper penetration of the carding prongs into the Wool fibers with a simple and easily accomplished movement of the card.

A still further object is to produce a single card that can be used in a very efficient manner to accomplish the entire fitting and trimming of a sheep, including all hard to get at places.

Other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a wool card embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a bottom view of the card of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the card;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3 showing the manner of mounting the wire prongs or teeth into the carrying sheet of the card; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4 showing additional details of the mounting of the teeth.

Referring to the drawings in detail which show a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be noted there is disclosed a body B which on its lower side has a special convexly curved surface S properly designed to carry out the function of my improved card. It Will be observed from Figure 1 that this curved surface is somewhat similar to that of a cylinder, but varies therefrom as shown.

It will be noted from Figure 3 that the front end F of the card is somewhat pointed and narrowed down and the rear part or end R is quite broad and has a straight or flat rear end wall 3 so that the whole card is somewhat in outline shape like a flatiron for ironing clothes, but being provided with the curved bottom surface as above noted. The body B includes, in addition to convexly curved surface S, front end F and rear part R, a substantially flat top surface 1 and side walls 2 which, as illustrated in Figure 2, converge from the rear end R to the front end F, the side Walls also being curved convexly. A hand strap H is secured to the body 3 by any suitable means and is provided with a suitable adjustable buckle A to permit the strap to be adjusted to fit the users hand, it being noted, from Figure 1, that the strap extends over the top surface 1 in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis between ends F and R.

On the curved bottom surface S of the body B there is attached thereto a flexible sheet L which can be leather, plastic or the like and carried thereby are a plurality of prongs or teeth T. These teeth, as is well illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, are in the form of wire staples which are inserted through the flexible sheet L from the back thereof with the legs of each staple extending outwardly from the front surface of the flexible sheet. The legs of the staples have their free end portions P bent so as to project at an angle of about 45 degrees from the main leg portions. When inserting the staples in the flexible sheet L, the end portions P are directed to extend or point toward the rear or blunt end R of the flexible sheet L. The flexible sheet L is attached to the curved bottom surface of the body B of the card as, for example, by the use of tacks K. In this manner the U end of the staples is held tight against the back side of the sheet L.

The card comprising the preferred embodiment of my invention is easily used in a quick and eflicient manner to comb or pull out the wool fibers from the fleece and make them stand up so trimming and fitting of the animal can be easily accomplished. To use my card, no patting or striking of the animal by the card is necessary. All that need be done is place the card on the hand of the user by the hand strap H and then so tilt the card that the rear end R will first engage the fleece of the animal. When the card is in this position on the fleece, it will have a position that the bent end prongs P at the rear end will be easily pushed directly into the fibers of the fleece. Now, by rocking the card forwardly, the bent end prongs will move through the fibers and comb them outwardly and thereby cause these matted and packed fibers to be pulled out of the fleece where they can be easily cut off to properly fit the animal in a well known the card into the matted and packed wool with the front end F pointed upwardly and away from the wool, then rock the card forwardly so that the teeth'move into the fleece and comb out the fibers in a successive action. The movement of the bent end ofthe teeth into the wool will be direct, but as these ends move out of the wool a combing action Will take place which will bring the matted fibers to the surface so the ends can be cut and trimmed for proper fitting and showing.

By having the rear end R broad, a fast carding can be accomplished. With the front end P pointed or narrowed down, the card can be easily and efiiciently used to card wool around the ears, eyes, under the neck, the flank, or around the legs.

It will be particularly noted that my card is easy to use. Only pressing and rocking movements are required. No patting and direct pulling up of the card is necessary. The prongs go into the wool fibers to a full length. in an easy manner because the penetration is parallel to the fibers of the fleece as they grow from the animals hide. Thus, a full carding action results as the prongs of the teeth are pulled out with a combing action, due to the rocking movement.

Being aware that modifications can be made in my improved card shown by way of example, all without departing from the fundamental principles of my inven.-

tion, I desire it to be understood that the scope of my invention is not to be limited except in accordance with the structure terms of the accompanying claims and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A wool card comprising a body member having top and bottom surfaces, front and rear ends and side walls, said side walls converging from said rear end to the front end whereby the front end is substantially pointed and narrowed with respect to the rear end, the bottom surface being convexly curved to permit rocking of the body member and having depending therefrom a plurality of teeth.

2. A wool card as defined in claim 1 wherein there is provided a strap for receiving fingers of a hand, said strap extending over the top surface in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis between the ends.

3. A wool card as defined in claim 1 wherein the rear end includes a substantially flat end wall and the side walls are convexly curved from the rear end to the front end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 439,435 Sherman Oct. 28, 1890' 1,011,689 Wilson Dec. 12, 1911 1,689,209 Majewski Oct. 30, 1928 1,792,831 Gourdeau Feb. 17', 1931 

